Imprisonment
by ToonTail
Summary: A/U The life of the treasured princess of the Great Empire was blissful, before the faithful day she met a slave… Who is he? And why doesn't he speak to her? Follow the princess as she embarks on her journey to save her beloved Empire with a gladiator…
1. Prologue

**Summary: The life of the treasured princess of the Great Empire was blissful, before the faithful day she met a slave… Who is he? And why doesn't he speak to her? Follow the princess as she embarks on her journey to save her beloved Empire with a gladiator…**

**Disclaimer: I am doing to only say this once; I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! Series or the AIR Series. Therefore I do not own the characters used in this story but I DO OWN the plot. Thank you.**

**Enjoy.**

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1 – Prologue

"Anyone there…?"

Silence. A hand clenched onto the hard, cold bar of the cage.

"Hello…? Please someone tell me where I am… Please…"

No response. A soft sigh was echoed from the one who spoke. They released the bar and crept slowly towards the corner of the cage, where the radiance of the moonlight shined on them. They leaned against the grey stonewall and arched their head to the side. A closer look at the prisoner there sat a beautiful, innocent-looking young lady. She had extremely long, blonde hair that reached knee length and deep aquatic blue eyes that slightly resembled the shade of the sky – her fairly pale complexion showed the true essence of her beauty.

However, a few bruises were visible on her elegant face, legs and smooth shoulders. Her torn fascia which had been tied tightly around her body across her large bust and under clothing was slightly loose, exposing a lot of cleavage than she liked. The purple woolen tunica that she once wore proudly had been tattered by the ones that captured her. She had been attacked before she arrived here…wherever here was. Maybe 4 or 6… She could not remember the attackers but she could clearly remember how she got herself into this mess because of _him_.

Nothing ever seemed to be going the right way for Marcella ever since her faithful encounter with the man that brought anger to her soul. She was always been kind to people, the ones she liked and the ones she did not like but for some reason, she could not bring herself to tolerate that _maniac_ in her life. Even though she was locked up in this cage, chained on her bare wrists and ankles, she was grateful to the gods that the kidnappers had not raped her. Marcella could go through her whole life in peace, if they did not do that awful thing to her. Being of the high position in the greatest Empire in the world, she could never live with the shame of such an occurrence.

With a loud yawn erupting from her soft pink lips, she slowly caved into slumber as her eyelids grew harder with every breathe she took. Marcella closed her eyes and laid herself on the piles of hay beneath her, for she cared less of what she would look like at the break of dawn. As she slowly drifted into a sub-conscious state a pair of true purple, emotionless eyes gazed under the cover of darkness, at the young maiden the whole time never revealing their presence in the room. The figure slowly retreated from the room before making one last glance at Marcella.

* * *

"Move it slave! Walk faster!" _Crack!_

Marcella watched in horror as a brunette female – who was leading the trail of female slaves such as her – fell on her knees, with what was left of her shredded tunica as the feeble middle-aged bleed to death on her back. Marcella shook her head at the sight. _How could they be so cruel? The woman was barely able to walk anymore with the constant whipping that slave trader was giving her. _

She would have tried to do something about it but the slave trader quickly unchained the woman tossing her aside like trash; before summoning 2 other mean-looking men to take the woman away. Marcella had a feeling what they were going to do to her and made a silent prayer for the woman, that her death would be quick and painless. If it wasn't for the bloody chains, that kept each of the slaves locked together, Marcella swore she would have done something to help the innocent brunette. A tear fell down her cheek.

"What are you all standing around for?! Keep moving! Or do you want to join your friend with Pluto?" he exclaimed with a strident voice.

The new leader of the trail of female slaves without second thought started marching to their destination, Mangones. With her deep aquatic blue eyes, Marcella turned her gaze at one of the busiest slave markets across the Empire. She recognized that many of the slaves being put on display were from different regions, mostly from the southern Mediterranean area for instance, the Egyptians. Her father told her of this place, Mangones, once sometime back; never thought she would be seeing it with her own eyes. She did not like hearing about it then and still did not like seeing it now.

Her group was quickly assembled on a wooden podium in a horizontal line, as their slave trader attracted attention towards them. A large number of men, some male aristocrats to Marcella's surprise, crowded rapidly beneath the podium as the bidding for each of them began. One by one, they were sold off. Then finally the slave trader came towards Marcella.

"Now this one gentlemen is a special beauty. She has noble blood running through her veins. You cannot compare her with the rest I have brought for you today. She is at a fruitful age, as you can see…" Marcella looked a bit frightened at how they were all staring at her up and down. _Men are such perverts… _"She is in good shape and is able to do _anything_ you wish her to, my friends. I could go on describing this delectable creature but we are here to conduct business, so let us begin…"

Marcella looked around ignoring the rest of the commotion and caught sight of a particular figure, wearing a paenula covering their head; that did not seem to be engaged with the crowd, but just looked at her. She blinked twice before she closed her eyes for a brief second, when she opened them they were gone. She searched the crowd for what seemed like an eternity, they were not there. _Was I imagining my own things? _

_Thud!_

"What the…?" The slave trader turned his attention towards the sound, as well as Marcella, to see the cloaked figure she just saw some moment ago. They slowly approached Marcella as she stared dazed at them, her legs not willing to follow any of her commands to move away from the figure. For some strange reason, she felt like she knew the person.

"Who do you think you are?!" the slave trader asked the figure, gripping tightly onto the handle of his whip ready to strike them. "Do not take my slave. If you want her, you better get in line and pay up."

"That is right! Get down from there!"

"Take him down!"

"She is mine!"

"No! She is mine!"

Marcella blinked away from the figure and looked down to witness the men brawling against each other, in an unruly way. Before she could process what just happened, as the slave trader was preoccupied trying to calm down his customers; the cloaked figure picked her up into their arms and jumped off the podium, running away from the scene. Marcella wrapped her chained wrists around their neck and closed her eyes hoping she could trust this figure with her life.

* * *

Once they were safe and sound from anyone by an isolated street, the figure stopped running and placed Marcella on the ground. She stood her ground opening her eyes to observe her savior. The awkward silence remained between them as they stared at each other for a few minutes. Marcella then finally found the courageous voice to speak to the figure.

"Thank you for saving me… W-Who are y-you?" _Alright, an almost courageous voice._

The figure's hands slowly rose to grasp onto the edge of the paenula's hood and draw it back to reveal their face to Marcella. Marcella took a step back as her face expressed confusion at first, then astonishment when she studied their face before her face showed rage, towards the person standing in front of her.

"You!"

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**I'll explain more about this story in the next chapter. Thank you for reading. If you wish to leave a review, I would appreciate.  
**


	2. Attack

**Disclaimer: Check the previous chapter.**

**Enjoy Chapter 2.**

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2 – Attack

"You really should watch where you are going…" A fruity laugh resonated from above the young girl with blonde hair and deep aquatic blue eyes. She lifted her hand rubbing it against her face.

A groan escaped from her lips as Marcella sat up from the laying position she had been, when she tripped. She shot an above glare at her friend, who continued laughing vivaciously at her.

"You are quite clumsy Marcella. It is a wonder how you can manage to walk at all," a young girl, with short blue hair and sea green eyes, said in between giggles as she extended her hand to Marcella to help her up.

Marcella gladly took her friend's pale hand and stood up. She pretended to dust something off, at the front of her royal purple tunic which flowed stylishly to her knees. Turning her gaze to her friend, she noticed she was wearing a white tunic reaching her ankles and rather beautiful, golden jewelry which she admitted had complimented her friend's skin tone quite well.

"Why must you mock me so? You know I do not fall by my own choice, Lucia." Marcella looked frustrated at her bleuette friend, as Lucia shrugged her shoulders with a wide smile on her face.

"I know. It is just your nature to be clumsy. The gods could not even help you solve your condition."

Marcella pouted folding her arms across her chest as she made a soft humph sound, before turning away from Lucia.

"Then if my _condition_ bothers you so much, then I see no reason for us to be friends anymore…"

"Now Marcella you should no-" Before Lucia could go on, someone cut her off.

"You know Lucia was just playing about you, Marcella. Do not take it to heart on her lively nature." The new, soft-spoken voice expressed their view as soft footsteps approached the duo. They turned to look at the newcomer.

"I guess you are right Mariana," Marcella began. "I just do not need to be reminded about my condition. It is already aggravating to live like this…"

Lucia looked sadly at Marcella and sighed, "That is true. I am sorry for teasing you Marcella." Marcella turned around and hugged Lucia, simply saying to her that she forgave her. Lucia returned the hug, and then glanced at Mariana. Mariana was a shy, quiet young girl who had interests with the night sky. She loved observing the stars in the midnight sky every night. She was taller than the other two, which she took pride of because she believed she was closer to the sky that way. She had long, brown hair and reddish pink eyes. She wore a warm yellow tunic that fell to her shins, with long sleeves which had become the latest trend in tunica fashion.

"Why are you here Mariana?" Lucia asked innocently.

"Oh…" Mariana looked shyly down before answering. "I received a message for you from your father, Marcella…"

"Really? What does he wish of me?" She released Lucia as she turned her attention to Mariana, walking closer to her with a curious look on her face.

"Uh… He wishes you join him for the games he is hosting in the Colosseum today…"

"The Colosseum? He knows I find no pleasure in watching those barbaric fights. It is just a bunch of unfortunate slaves who have to fight to death to survive, for the amusement of the Empire…"

"I understand what you mean…"

"Oh come on you two," Lucia exclaimed. "The games featured in the Flavian Amphitheater are a form of entertainment to everyone, and there are usually very handsome gladiators fighting there." Marcella and Mariana watched as Lucia seemed to be daydreaming about talking to an imaginary gladiator, in a dreamy voice. Mariana shook her head at her friend's strange behavior. Marcella chose to ignore her.

"Nevertheless, there must be a good reason for my father to invite me to the Colosseum. I will go but I trust that you two will be accompanying me? Of course you will Lucia…"

"Of course I am coming!" She said, snapping out from her thoughts.

"What about you Mariana?" Marcella asked her shy friend.

"Uh… Sure. Something interesting might happen today." If only Mariana knew how right she was.

* * *

The hungry cries of the congregated spectators echoed throughout the Colosseum complex. The loud cheers and excitement filled the Colosseum as one by one, gladiators entered the sandy, wooden arena to fight for their survival and amuse the crowd. At one section of the spectator areas, there sat the great Emperor Vitus on his large ivory throne, with a familiar blue eyed girl sitting on a smaller throne compared to her father's, along with her young mates beside her. Emperor Vitus watched attentively at each of the fights, deciding the fate of some gladiators with a thumb up or a thumb down.

The Emperor was a strong man, both mentally and physically, he had brought a lot of glory to the Empire and was loved by all. Although he had unfortunate events that occurred under his rule, he had been able to compensate to satisfy his Empire. The able Emperor wore a purple toga – which was a standard loose flowing outer garment that was elaborately draped around his body. A light purple tunic was worn below the toga reaching his knees and had long sleeves. However the red cloak he wore, which was fastened at the shoulder with a clasp and the green wreath demonstrated the true power that Vitus held in the Empire.

Vitus made a glance at his daughter, with his light blue eyes noticing that she was not enjoying events taking place below them. Her friends seemed engrossed at the fights, one more than the other but Marcella looked bored as though her mind was somewhere else. Vitus immediately called one of the officials of the Colosseum, commanding them to bring out something different rather than one-on-one compact. The official quickly nodded and made the arrangements for the next fight.

"My Emperor…" The fairly overweight official called out loudly, gaining the attention and silence of the spectators in the Colosseum. "You have requested something different and so shall it be done. Bring out the next gladiator! This gladiator is a slave from the far corners of the East and he will battle one of the most vicious wild cats, the roaring lions!" On cue, three steel gates opened.

The two gates on the Emperor's left side, two ferocious male lions emerged slowly onto the arena; while the third gate on the Emperor's right side a slightly muscular, pale skinned, half-naked young man wearing a brown loincloth, a gladiator helmet and was barefoot emerged as well onto the arena as he grasped tightly, with both hands on the hilt of their sword.

The lions began to encircle the gladiator at the center of the arena while growling at him. The gladiator took a brave pose as he waited for the first lion to make its attack. Marcella observed carefully as everyone watched the lone slave try to fight off two lions. At first, the gladiator had managed to slash the lions leaving them a bit weak however it all changed, when by mistake the gladiator let his guard down which the lions successfully took advantage of, in a swift moment. Marcella closed her eyes in horror as the lions began to devour on the fallen gladiator. People remained quiet when something unusual followed suit.

Marcella felt someone, most probably Lucia; tap her on the arm which Marcella thought that Lucia was trying to tell her to open her eyes. After a quick consultation with herself in her mind, Marcella finally agreed to open her eyes after Lucia tapped her arm again. Gazing at the arena below her, Marcella adjusted her eyes and tilted her head to the side; she caught sight of a new figure, definitely a gladiator but unlike the other one from before this one, she noted, had a tanned complexion with an exceptionally well-built body even though they were only dressed in a black loincloth, confidence seemed to be radiating from this young-looking gladiator.

Much to Marcella's disappointment, which she did not understand why, the new gladiator wore a helmet therefore hiding their face from the world. She also did not understand why but there was definitely, to her, something different about this gladiator.

Her curiosity was rising.

"_Who is he?"_

* * *

**Okay I'll leave it there as a cliffhanger, hehe. I will take this time to clarify the following characters for you:**

**Marcella – Misuzu Kamio from AIR (Age: 17)**

**Lucia – Kano Kirishima from AIR (Age: 17)**

**Mariana – Minagi Tohno from AIR (Age: 18)**

**Emperor Vitus – OC**

**The rest of the characters in this story will be revealed later, in the following chapters.**

**Thank for reading, till next time.**

**P.S. If you wish to leave a review, I would deeply appreciate it.**


	3. Hatred

**Disclaimer: Check chapter 1.**

**Okay so this chapter is a bit longer than the other previous two chapters (combined), at the moment I'm thinking of how chapter 4 will be. I'm sure I'll think of something but in the meantime...**

**Enjoy chapter 3 :D**

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3 - Hatred

The Novian Palace was a vast residential complex found proudly on the hill of Ravaline in Rome. It contained several large rooms and suites of rooms; the main rooms were located on the North Wing and South Wing of the complex. The first part of the palace that was visible from the road, which connected the Roman Forum to the Ravaline Hill, was commonly known as Flavian; which were a group of three rooms. The biggest rooms were situated in the North Wing, known as Auma Regia. The Emperor and his family lived there. The walls at the Auma Regia had a marble veneer; there were Phrygian marble columns and an elaborately carved frieze. The Novian Palace was opened to two courtyards with fountains to the north and south. A famous poet described the splendor of the Novian Palace to be:

_Awesome and vast is the edifice, distinguished not by a hundred columns but by as many as could shoulder the gods and the sky if Atlas were let off… so great extends the structure and the sweep of the far-flung hall, more expansive than that of an open plain, embracing much enclosed sky and lesser only than its master._

However, in the East Wing and West Wing were the smallest and most poorly reserved rooms in the palace; where the slaves would stay as they worked in the palace. It had a simple design, nothing that could ever compare to Flavian and Auma Regia.

The scenery outside the palace was breathtaking. One look at the palace on a hill, everything seemed peaceful.

"Achoo!"

One look at the palace on a hill, everything _did_ seem peaceful.

In one of the rooms of the Auma Regia, the Roman Princess, Marcella sat on her bed feeling a bit lightheaded and sniffing slightly after she had sneezed. Footsteps echoed down the hallway to her room as a middle-aged woman dressed in the plain white housemaid outfit ran over to the sick princess. The woman quickly made Marcella drink some herbal tea, after much protesting on how it tasted disgusting Marcella agreed to obey her personal maid, Dacia.

"That is a good girl. If you keep drinking this and getting some rest, you will be better in no time," believed the optimistic Dacia. Marcella responded with a displeased sound after gulping the last drop of the tea in the cup. She tried getting rid off the bitter taste of herbs in her mouth, with a cup of water that was beside her bed. Dacia watched the princess silently as a small smile graced her face. "You certainly are a stubborn princess…" Marcella did not take into heart Dacia's words because she knew it was true. "But I do not understand why you have been like this for the past two days. You were perfectly fine before, dear. And you know what is happening tonight…"

"How can I forget…?" Marcella whispered before smiling brightly at Dacia. "I will be fine. I have gotten much better since I got sick. I will be able to attend tonight's event especially for our guests."

"That is good to hear, dear. Now get some rest. You need it."

"Thank you Dacia. For everything."

"It is my pleasure, dear." As she slowly left the princess alone, Marcella could not help but reminisce at what transpired in the Colosseum, two days ago…

_Marcella adjusted her eyes and tilted her head to the side; she caught sight of a new figure, definitely a gladiator but unlike the other one from before this one, she noted, had a tanned complexion with an exceptionally well-built body even though they were only dressed in a black loincloth, confidence seemed to be radiating from this young-looking gladiator. _

_Much to Marcella's disappointment, which she did not understand why, the new gladiator wore a helmet therefore hiding their face from the world. She also did not understand why but there was definitely, to her, something different about this gladiator. _

_Her curiosity was rising._

"Who is he?"_ inquired Lucia to no one in particular, even though that was the same question running through everyone's mind as they stared down at the mysterious gladiator. _

_They watched in amazement as the lions charged after the new gladiator on the arena, leaving the collapsed one for a later meal. As they approached the gladiator, he never flinched standing his ground until the lions got very close to him. He swiftly unsheathed two swords kneeling down a bit and pierced each sword through each lions' heart. The lions began to grasp for air and took their final breathe before collapsing onto the ground, dead. _

_No one dared move or uttered a word. _

_The gladiator shoved the lions to the side with a kick, taking his swords out of their hairy bodies. The fairly overweight official grew angry at the current events and commanded some guards to go down to the arena and arrest the intruder. _

_6 soldiers assembled below pointing their spears at the gladiator, who did not seem to acknowledge their presence. This rude behavior got one of the guards irritated, which gathered up his courage to strike the gladiator with his spear. _

_And that was a fatal mistake. _

_The next sight the remaining 5 soldiers witnessed was their fellow comrade falling on his knees and remaining lifeless on the ground. They tried to negotiate amongst themselves with frightened voices, on who would try and apprehend the gladiator. Yet in the end, they were all killed by the gladiator. _

_The victorious gladiator made his way towards the fallen gladiator, while sheathing his blood-dripping swords. He stood above them in silence as they looked at each other. Then another unexpected person ran towards the gladiators. Everyone gawked at the short, lean but fairly muscular, pale skinned young man with light pink hair and emerald green eyes; wearing only a brown loincloth which meant he was also a slave. Marcella smiled faintly at the thought that unlike the other two, this shorter gladiator did not have a helmet on, at least she could see his face. The pink haired gladiator kneeled beside the barely alive slave and called out to anyone in the Colosseum to help this gladiator, that he held in his arms. Marcella turned at her father then the Emperor nodded slightly at her, before commanding some guards to take the gladiator to the infirmary immediately._

_The guards watched in astonishment as the other two gladiators, especially the one that could kill them, moved aside for them to let them carry their comrade away. When the injured gladiator was being carried out of the arena, the other two followed closely behind._

"_Stop!" Emperor Vitus shouted at the two gladiators below him. _

"_I wish to speak to you." The two addressed by the Emperor remained standing on the arena as the Emperor, with his guards and Marcella, with her friends stood in front of them._

"_Who are you?" The Emperor started off. He was curious, just like anyone, on who these gladiators were after what transpired today. The short, pink haired gladiator spoke first, after bowing slightly to Vitus._

"_Your Imperial Majesty. The injured slave, the lion slayer slave and I are brothers. I am the youngest of the three. We are from a small settlement located in the East. We are known as the TriArc gladiators."_

"_Hmm I see. And what might be your name?"_

"_My name is III."_

"_The numeral 3? Strange… You have no real name then?"_

"_My name is III." The short gladiator repeated._

_The Emperor understood not to go farther with the topic and asked no more. He turned to the lion slayer gladiator who had yet to utter a word since his appearance. _

"_Identify yourself gladiator." _

_No response._

"_Gladiator. Identify yourself now." _

_No reply._

"_I will say this one last time gladiator. Identify yourself!" But the gladiator merely ignored the Emperor as he turned his gaze to his young daughter. Inwardly, Marcella felt her heart beat increase by a small fraction for those brief seconds, when she sensed the masked gladiator look at her. _

_He turned his gaze away from her as he began to casually walk past the Emperor but 2 guards blocked his way out of the arena with spears, in an X-formation. Emperor Vitus looked shocked at the gladiator's boldness against him. Then another party member ran towards the Emperor, bowing down in respects to Vitus. _

"_I am their slave master, Domitian. I deeply apologize for my slave's unforgivable conduct towards you, your Imperial Majesty. I will severely deal with him." Vitus glanced down at the normal weight man, speaking on behalf of his rude gladiator. The Emperor smiled down at him as he decided to be the bigger man, in this situation._

"_Think nothing of it Domitian. Do not punish your gladiator, I forgive him. I would like to apologize for what happened to your badly injured gladiator. That is why I am inviting all of you – all your gladiators and yourself – to my palace for a night banquet in two days."_

"___Your Imperial Majesty_… I do not know what to say… I accept your invitation." Domitian had never known that there was another side to the Emperor before today. He was exceedingly grateful for the Emperor's leniency on him and his gladiators.

"_Splendid." _

Crack!

_With the peal of thunder above their heads, the heavens soon gave way as heavy rain descended on the Earth. When the guards blocking the mysterious gladiator's way stared up at the dark clouds, when the thunder strikes, the gladiator took this distraction to his advantage. He grabbed their spears, turning them over, and used the edges of the spears to deliver a couple of hard blows on their heads and chests. They were knocked out in seconds. _

_The gladiator tossed the spears away before walking out of the arena, through the gates to the infirmary. III thanked the Emperor for the invitation then politely excused himself, as he ran after his older brother to the infirmary below the arena._

_Instantaneously, everyone exited the Colosseum due to the sudden rain to seek shelter. Mariana smiled listening to the animated conversation that Marcella and Lucia were having, mostly Lucia, about the mysterious gladiator._

"_That gladiator sure is something. Did you see that way he killed those lions with one move?! Who does that?! Even how he knocked out those guards? He even killed 6 guards without breaking a sweat. No one came even close to touching him." Lucia exclaimed. "Bet you do not regret coming after all, hmm Marcella?"_

"_I guess… It was quite entertaining and very interesting. I just feel sorry for their brother in the infirmary. I hope he lives…" Marcella sighed._

_Mariana nodded in agreement. "I hope so too."_

"_Aaa.. Achoo!"_

_Both Marcella and Mariana sneezed at the same time._

"_Seems like you two have come down with a cold…" Lucia chuckled lightly as they made their way to their transportation back to the palace. "I am sure you will be fine. We do not want to chase away that mysterious gladiator during the banquet." Mariana and Marcella shook their heads at how their friend was only thinking about that gladiator._

Marcella smiled after thinking about Lucia, chuckling to herself. She was walking around the hallways in the North Wing of the Novian Palace, watching as the workers attended to the preparations of the banquet her father had planned. She let her thoughts slowly wonder about the gladiator and if he was going to come that night. _Why did she care anyway?_

"Well well well, if it isn't my _favorite_ sister in the entire Empire." A sarcastically cheery voice rang through Marcella's ears, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"And what do I owe this _pleasant_ visit from you, Titania?" Marcella replied with an equal tone as her step-sister. Titania walked gracefully towards her little step-sister with her long green hair flowing elegantly, as she glanced at Marcella with her hazel eyes.

"I witnessed the events that took place in the Colosseum two days ago. I was surprised to see you actually enjoyed watching the games. It seems there is always a first time for everything, for you I mean." Titania smirked at her.

Marcella glanced back at her. Oh she was not going to get away with that so easily. "I am more than surprised you were actually there. You are usually too busy to attend such events, flirting with gods know who." Yes, that was 1 point for Marcella. She giggled as she was able to make that smirk disappear from Titania's face. "I would love to stay here with you sister but I have someplace to be." Marcella turned on her heel and strolled away from her sister except it did not go as she happened. She soon tripped and fell to the ground.

Titania started to snicker at Marcella. "You really are such a clumsy girl. You cannot even walk straight; after a few steps you falter. Although…" This gained Marcella's attention. "It is odd how you never stumbled when you went to the arena with father to meet the gladiators… I also wonder why the gladiator looked at you…" The last part that Titania said was murmured; even Marcella did not quite hear clearly what she said. Titania left Marcella by herself, while Marcella thought about what her sister had just said to her.

* * *

The sound of music had resonated from the Ravaline Hill, with the cloudless night sky above. The Novian Palace was overflowing with senators, noblemen, just wealthy men from all corners of Rome. They ate, danced with exotic young ladies and drank the finest beverages, to their hearts content. Soon the main guests arrived. The TriArc gladiators (only missing one member), their slave master and their other gladiator comrades walked into the enormous room, where the banquet was being held. The gladiators were all dressed in their normal attire, loincloths and torn sandals. They all, except the TriArc, made merry with the various forms of entertainment available. III tried to have fun but his older brother never attempted to, as he wore his helmet not wanting to reveal his face.

Marcella and her friends stayed at a certain corner of the room observing everyone else. They watched as Titania boldly, but foolishly, went over to the man-of-few-words (or none of that matter) gladiator. She fluttered her eyelashes at him, trying to get his attention with a sweet, innocent voice and terribly failed at it.

"Ouch. You just got rejected Titania." Lucia called out to Marcella's sister when she passed them, looking very angry. Lucia laughed loudly but stopped all of a sudden when the sound of the Emperor's voice echoed in the room for silence.

"Thank you. I would like to make a toast to the TriArc; III and his brother who are present with us tonight. We pray that your oldest brother makes a quick recovery. "

The Emperor raised his cup of wine high above his head. The rest followed suit. "To the TriArc!"

"To the TriArc!" Everyone cheered.

III thanked Emperor Vitus, while his brother remained quiet throughout the whole ordeal – as far as he was concerned – when people applauded him for the entertaining battle back in the Colosseum two days ago.

Time soon passed by, then out of the corner of her eye Marcella noticed III's brother leaving the banquet soundlessly without being seen by anyone. She excused herself and left her friends with her mind set on following the lone gladiator.

He had decided to take a personal tour of the palace, seeing as he grew bored of the banquet and needed some fresh air. His peace and quiet was soon short-lived, when he sensed some_thing_ or some_one_ following him. He approached a corner along the hallway and successfully hid himself in the shadows. He waited patiently for the stalker to draw nearer to him; at that moment he grabbed their arms and pinned them against a marble pillar only to realize it was female. _She must be the Emperor's daughter or a nobleman's daughter…_

Marcella did not know what to do. She felt silly to have thought that he had not figured he was being followed by her. She had felt her heart beat racing when out of the blue he disappeared. In addition to this, she was now pinned against a pillar fearing for her life because she knew that this man was capable of anything.

"Let me go!" She cried out but that only made his grip on her arms become tighter. Marcella winced a bit. "Alright… I am sorry for following you…" She said what she thought he wanted to hear, and miraculously he let her go.

He took a step back and soon began to retreat back to the banquet; Marcella could not let him get away. She wanted answers.

"Please tell me your name." Marcella's eyes widened when he stopped walking and just stood there. She took a deep breathe, taking in all confidence she had as she moved forward and took off his helmet. _That was way too easy… Did he want her to take off his helmet? Why did he not stop her? _

But luckily for him, he stood under the cover of darkness so she could not see his face clearly. She carefully placed the helmet on the ground then raised her hands to where she thought his face was. She ran a finger down his left cheek – she felt his body tense up a bit under her touch but quickly he recovered. Marcella was beyond surprised at how soft his skin was; it was not what she thought it would feel like. A small light tint appeared on her cheeks, she inwardly thanked the gods that it was dark around them, when she accidentally stroked the corner of his lips. Fortunately for her, the gladiator did not seem to mind.

A finger then ran down his right cheek and Marcella felt something strange. It was rough and covered part of his right cheek, shaped like a cross. _Was that a scar?_

When she stroked it gently, in one blink of an eye she was pushed away roughly by the gladiator. Marcella hit a pillar behind her and fell unconscious after suffering a heavy blow to the back of the head. The gladiator bent down for his helmet and placed it back on. He glanced down at the unconscious princess and walked away heading back to the banquet.

"I'm sorry..."

Those were the last words that were mouthed in that hallway.

* * *

**For now, I won't reveal any of the characters in this chapter... Hmm maybe just two.**

**III - Trey (a.k.a. III) Arclight from Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (pretty obvious)**

**Titania - Tori Meadows from Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (Sorry to all those Tori fans about Tori's personality in this story, but trust me she will be... Uh no I won't spoil the surprise :P )**

**Okay, those are the only two I'll reveal. The other two (I haven't mentioned) are soooo obvious but if you have no idea who I'm talking about, you'll just have to wait and see.**

**Thanks for reading. Reviews are much appreciated, gives me motivation to keep writing.**

**Until next time, ToonTail signing out. Peace!**


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